West Charlotte nonprofit aims to guide youth down the right path

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Charlotte leaders say juvenile offenses, including violent crimes, are a problem within the city.

Leaders of the non-profit, West Boulevard Ministry, are working to steer young boys toward a better future.

Bart Noonan, the founder and executive director, takes a “love them, but love them hard” approach with the approximately 20 boys he has under his wing right now.

“We’re about accountability, responsibility, doing the right thing,” he said. “We communicate with their teachers. We’re inside the schools checking on them [and their] attendance.”

West Boulevard Ministry has a property in Charlotte with a turf field and a swimming pool.

The boys visit several times a week from middle and high schools up and down West Boulevard.

When Queen City News visited, they were going through physical fitness drills.

On other days, they hear from visiting speakers, go swimming and take field trips.

“We try to make sure we get them off West Boulevard to do different things, because sometimes these kids, their worlds can be really small,” Noonan said. “We want to expand that world.”

Conflict resolution is a fundamental piece of Noonan’s program.

He feels his mission is especially relevant now, when the city’s suffered several recent high-profile killings.

From 2019 to 2024, Charlotte’s average homicide rate was 11.5 homicides per 100,000 residents.

In the six years before that, it was 7.4.

“The violence that goes on in the city is not ok with me, and it shouldn’t be ok with anybody,” Noonan said. “We have to come together, everybody. It’s not political, it’s about humanity.”

Last year, Charlotte’s homicide rate was less than half of the rates in similar-sized cities like Atlanta, Washington D.C., and Indianapolis.

The city’s homicide rate peaked in 2020.